The Friday Brief

Cristin Schmitz reports on today’s Supreme Court of Canada ruling in R. v. Cody 2017 SCC 31. The top court dashed the hopes of a number of provincial attorneys general and allayed the fears of defence counsel by not retrenching from R. v. Jordan 2016 SCC 27. “This appeal is yet another example of why change is necessary,” stressed the court. The decision provides important new guidance on how to apply Jordan’s analytical framework for deciding whether a case violates the presumptive ceilings from charge to the anticipated end of trial.

On Monday June 12 Chief Justice of Canada Beverley McLachlin announced she will retire Dec. 15. The announcement came as a surprise to many because she has said for years she intended to stay until she turned 75, which would have meant retirement next year. Now the speculation heats up — who will replace her?

Saskatchewan provincial court judge Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, viewed as a leading candidate to become the first Indigenous justice of the Supreme Court, says ending the “incredible systemic racism” she sees every day from the bench requires “Indigenizing” the criminal justice and child welfare systems far beyond appointing a few more Indigenous judges.

The Supreme Court’s June 15 ruling in Stewart v. Elk Valley Coal Corp. 2017 SCC 30 clarifies — and according to the dissent changes — how to determine prima facie discrimination in the workplace, in this case based on the mental disability of drug addiction.

In an exclusive interview with The Lawyer's Daily, Manitoba Queen’s Bench Chief Justice Glenn Joyal reacts to the Canadian Judicial Council’s June 8 dismissal of an ethics complaint made last February against him and Chief Justice of Manitoba Richard Chartier.

Kim Arnott reports on a recent Ontario Court of Appeal decision, Ivic v. Lakovic 2017 ONCA 446, in which the court ruled a taxi company is not vicariously liable for a sexual assault that a driver allegedly committed on an intoxicated female passenger. Notably, this is the first appellate court ruling addressing vicarious liability for sexual assault in the context of taxi companies.